Post Comment Love 9 - 11 January

Hello there, Happy New Year and welcome to the first #PoCoLo of the year - a relaxed, friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any blog post published in the last week. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked, comment and share some of that love.

Please don’t link up posts which are older as they will be removed, and if you see older posts are linked then please don’t feel that it’s necessary to comment on those. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here we’re pleased you’ve joined us.

It’s been a chilly few days here, for more than one reason - the weather, and temperamental heating, which we’re still in the process of getting fixed, and more weather on the way with Storm Goretti due to arrive Thursday evening.

I’ve taken the opportunity to pick up a longterm work in progress crochet project, which is at the very unfulfilling stage of having its ends sewn in and then pieced together. I’m on the last small section, so there is light at the end of the tunnel, but oh so many ends to sew in - it’s not my favourite task that’s for sure!

I hope that wherever you are the weather behaves, have a good week.

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My garden in December

Like last month there’s very little actual gardening going on in my garden, but I’ve still been surprised by it, especially with the Mottisfont rose which has produced a massive flower which meant it got pride of place when I moved the pots into their more sheltered winter positions.

A last Mottisfont rose for the year - looking vibrant and refreshed in the rain

We’ve been able to watch this develop from the house, although it didn’t really change much throughout the month. This was as open as it got, before the weather got to it - but even so isn’t it a beauty?

Mid-month and the Mottisfont rose is still trying to open some more

Elsewhere in the garden other plants in the main border have been starting to, or hinting at flowering - and it’s been great to watch the smaller birds hop in and around the bushes.

Small white flowerheads starting to appear on one of our bushes - not sure if its early or not?
The bush by the wall has had the palest pink flowers on it this month

It seems the new olive tree in the large pot has snagged itself one of the sunny spots on the patio, which really is no bad thing.

The new olive tree in the large pot enjoying a sunny spot on the patio

It’s coping pretty well with the windy weather, and a lot better than my Christmas wreath which I decided would be better off taking shelter in the heat pump enclosure until the worst of the winds died down. I didn’t much fancy collecting parts of it from around the garden, but I may have done it a dis-service as since it’s been on our back door it’s been fine.

Not everyone has a Christmas wreath on the inside of their heat pump enclosure, mine was sheltering from the wind

And it’s still on our door looking as great as when we collected it - I’m not ready to let this one go just yet. It’s another one that’s turned from a Christmas wreath into a Winter wreath!

A green but yet unknown plant from dad, still in its slightly muddy plastic bag (and pot -not shown)

I’ve also gained some new plants this month, both from dad - this one, which I’m not exactly sure what it is yet and one of his rhubarb crowns. The rhubarb is in the garage ready to be planted when the weather (and ground) allows, and I hope this one picks up following the frosts we’ve had this past week or so.

It’s a quiet few months in the garden but if I’m lucky there’ll be some brighter, crisper and slightly warmer days which will give me a chance to catch up on some of those outside winter jobs, and to weed the gravel drive before the weeds there really take hold!

Quilts of 2025

Today I’m sharing the quilts I’ve finished in 2025, and I mean completely finished. There’s more that I’ve started but haven’t quite finished yet so I’m not including those. This year I’ve made a lot more quilts than I have ever done before, let alone in one year and so I’m proud of that, and you never know this could be the start of a whole new annual series here on my blog. Actually, I’d be pretty happy about that.

Twelve completed quilts, but not one a month

This year I’ve completely finished twelve quilts, all of them for charity. My most prolific month with three finished quilts was September, while I managed to complete zero in May and December! But that’s life hey?

So let’s have a quick recap of those quilts.

January started with a Noughts and Crosses quilt, the crosses were left over blocks from a previous Great Granny Quilt top (which so far has remained unfinished) and they were paired with some blocks I made to test sewing on a curve, and if I could cope with making enough for a quilt. In case you’re wondering I could, but so far I haven’t!

In February it was the Log Cabin Log Cabin, whose name still makes me smile. The log cabin centres were test blocks for my mystery block of the month quilt - and it was this that set me onto the slightly mad ‘stretch’ project of making a quilt a month for charity from these test blocks.

February’s Log Cabin Log Cabin

In March I opted for a blue and green theme for the Mostly Repurposed Vintage Star quilt, which I think only the white/navy flowered material was new. At this point I was unsure in which direction the mystery block of the month quilt would take me.

April’s finished quilt saw hearts as the centre block, and so this Four Hearts and a Hug quilt was always going to be pink, and as it turned out, riotously so!

That meant my eyes needed a break, so The Friendly Bee quilt I completed in June was just the thing and used two different bee fabrics I picked up at my Sewing Group’s stash sale.

The calm colours didn’t last long though, and colour broke through for the Pleated Tulips I finished in July, though the Aztec patterned border gave me a bit of headache, until I added the grey border which immediately stopped the zig zags looking too unruly.

For August’s Raspberry Plus finisher I played with the layout, opting for a plus, or cross, layout for the first but not the last time.

While September was my most prolific month for completing quilts, it didn’t stop my creativity or optimism. For this Half the Scraps quilt, which was renamed from All the Scraps while I was making it, I also decided to try quilting in a circle - it was way harder than I expected it to be, and I’ll not be trying that again for a while!

In September I went along to a Project Linus charity quilt day hosted by my now Patchwork Group, and during the day I made the majority of this baby-sized Paddington quilt in a snowball pattern. I was disappointed not to get it completely finished on the day, but it didn’t take me that long to complete once I was home. I shared more about this quilt, and the ones I donated, in my September Quilty Update.

For my third completed quilt of the month I was back raiding the Blues and Greens in my stash, clearly needing another break from the pinks. This one also used scraps leftover from previous quilts, but with the addition of some other fabrics from my stash. And by now, I was firmly entrenched in the straight line quilting - I think it works particularly well with this quilt.

October’s completed quilt was one that the central block challenged me unnecessarily, though partly because I switched machines part-way through. That resulted in completely mismatched seams for one of the central test blocks, so that was binned and a new one made - I guess that’s the purpose of test blocks, and you’d never know in the resulting Marmalade Hearts quilt, would you?

Which brings me onto the last completed quilt of 2025 - the Ohio Flower Garden - and another that I’ve played with the layout of and have used all floral fabric, and there’s a lot but I think it turned out well.

So it was quite a year in quilts, and I’ve learnt lots including:

  • Test blocks are always a good idea, but a quilt a month is a lot to keep up with (in shocking news!)

  • I’ve used a lot of my stash, but I’ve created a lot more scraps I could use too.

  • I’m a fan of straight line quilting, though quite often my lines could be straighter - I’ve a plan for that though.

  • I should aim to get a better final shot of the completed quilts, I much prefer those from the start of the year on the sofa or the trellis, something for me to remember for this year!

And I’ve plenty more to come this year, with at least two from my initial list hopefully completed in the first part of 2026.

Hopefully.

But I’ve a couple more charity quilts and blocks of the month to complete right now, so I’ve plenty to crack on with.